The little kid held up a candied hawthorn, looking smugly at Xiao Jie.
Indeed, in this world, Xiao Jie is also called Hidden Moon Following Wind. His cheap old dad is called Hidden Moon Xin Yuan, and the Hidden Moon family is a local big household with quite a few industries.
This little chubby kid is Xiao Jie’s cousin, who often comes to find him to play.
"If you call me brother, I’ll give you something delicious."
Xiao Jie remained expressionless. He was long accustomed to such antics. People in the village seemed to enjoy doing this, enticing him with various food and toys to speak. Although it seemed merely to amuse a child, Xiao Jie had a vague feeling that this was the system at play—no, it should be called the Taixu Illusion Realm.
According to Shen Jizi’s explanation, this Taixu Illusion Realm operates like a game system with its own logical thinking, and it could even exclude mortals directly, akin to computer games restricting minors.
For this reason, Xiao Jie believed that the villagers’ behavior was also a game mechanism driven by the system.
Thinking this way, Xiao Jie naturally felt a bit more calm.
He regarded the villagers as if they were a group of NPCs.
No matter how much you act, I’ll just treat it as watching a CG movie unfold. As long as I keep silent, I can naturally achieve immortality.
Seeing that Xiao Jie had no reaction whatsoever, the little kid finally lost interest and turned away.
Xiao Jie simply went to the open ground by himself, took out a wooden sword, and practiced against the air.
He still remembered Shen Jizi’s admonition that he not only couldn’t speak, but must remember that this game was fake, and he had to live until old age.
This world was far from peaceful, based on the information he had gathered over the years. It’s not only plagued by bandits but also haunted by evil spirits and demons causing havoc everywhere. Though the village remained calm for now, danger might arise in the future, and naturally, he needed sufficient martial power to protect himself.
Unfortunately, the sorcery skills he acquired were mostly directly imparted by the system, making it impossible to summarize the principles or learn them again. The source of thɪs content is novel fire.net
Luckily, he practiced martial arts often, and through muscle memory, he could recapture most of it.
At this moment, Xiao Jie was demonstrating the Gale Saber Technique.
Though physically weak, his mind was already that of an adult, thus compared to a normal child, he was fearless, not avoiding hard work, and was fully absorbed in his practice.
Suddenly, he heard applause.
"Good saber technique, having such skills at a young age is truly admirable."
Xiao Jie turned and saw a swordsman in black attire standing on the eaves, a bamboo hat on his head, with a sword at his back.
The swordsman looked at Xiao Jie with considerable appreciation.
"Little brother, are you a local? Who taught you this saber technique? Why not take me as your master, and I can teach you real martial arts."
Xiao Jie remained silent.
"As long as you speak, you can become a peerless expert. I rarely take on disciples, but seeing your exceptional talent gives me a desire to nurture it. You shouldn’t miss this opportunity."
Xiao Jie thought to himself, isn’t this making things difficult for me? No doubt this is another arrangement by the system.
"Forget it, if you’re unwilling, then so be it." Seeing Xiao Jie unmoved, the black-clad swordsman felt bored, snorted coldly, and then leapt, flying into the sky in a flash and quickly disappearing.
How impressive his Qinggong is! It must be at Grandmaster Level Qinggong.
However, watching the swordsman vanish, Xiao Jie felt unusually calm; this should be yet another temptation arranged by the system.
First, it was food, then martial arts, no doubt the system’s temptation will continue to escalate in the future, and he must endure.
Better to continue practicing saber techniques.
Xiao Jie resumed his practice.
After several years, Xiao Jie’s saber technique started to take form.
One day, Xiao Jie went to the blacksmith shop to forge a suitable sword.
Seeing the blacksmith, Xiao Jie was taken aback.
Yes, it was Wang Kai. Although he never saw Wang Kai in reality, due to the game’s sufficient realistic graphics, Xiao Jie could clearly tell that the blacksmith in front of him was identical to Wang Kai from the game.
Xiao Jie once again had some speculations in his heart, it seems everything in this Taixu Illusion Realm is generated from past memories.
Or it’s generated by the system based on the player’s gaming information.
Because he knew Wang Kai before, the system created a person with similar features. In this case, perhaps he might encounter more acquaintances in the future.
"Hey, isn’t this Little Suifeng, are you looking for me?"
Xiao Jie silently handed over the blueprint.
"You want to forge a sword? Let me see, huh, it’s drawn quite decently. You’re still unwilling to speak? If you call me uncle, I’ll give you one for free."
Seeing Xiao Jie still silent, Wang Kai reluctantly shook his head.
In the following years, Xiao Jie continued diligently practicing martial arts daily, with various temptations coming continuously, even the village’s most attractive girl often sought him out to speak.
Despite steadfastly sticking to his principles and not saying a word, Xiao Jie couldn’t help but sigh, this game was quite troublesome.
Unconsciously, another ten years had passed.
Xiao Jie had grown into a charming sixteen-year-old youth. Though these sixteen years were somewhat monotonous, they were peaceful.
Besides practicing saber techniques daily, he also followed a teacher to learn some writings.
He had long been immune to those daily temptations, remaining silent every day. The villagers had also gotten accustomed to his mannerisms, and there were fewer people who tried to tease him into speaking.